Presented By: Gabriel Spandau, University of Florida
Co-Authors: Jamie Loizzo, University of Florida
Courtney Meyers, Texas Tech University
Becky Raulerson, University of Florida

As agricultural researchers at land-grant universities study unique crops increasing in popularity, science communication courses should also prepare students to explore the crops alongside scientists. Hemp, hemp products, and professional development events focused on careers in hemp have gained attention in recent years (Kim & Mark, 2023; Rampold et al., 2021; Colclasure et al., 2023). Similarly, kratom is gaining attention as reports of people using and growing this medicinal plant in the U.S. are on the rise (Covvey et al., 2020). One way for science communication educators to introduce students to the spaces where scientists research these commodities is through virtual reality (VR). VR can immerse users in a vicarious world and introduce them to content and a setting they may not have otherwise visited (Chițu et al., 2023; Makransky & Mayer, 2022; Zhao et al., 2023). Three universities across the U.S. are collaborating to explore the educational value and to understand student perceptions of VR regarding agricultural and natural resource educational areas when implemented in undergraduate college classrooms through [Masked Project Name], funded by the USDA. We created a tour of the [Masked Research Center’s] hemp and kratom greenhouses at [Masked University Name] and tested these as a case study in two agricultural and natural resources communication courses (n = 30). We used a post-retrospective survey with Likert scale items, bipolar sentiment items, and open-end qualitative questions about learning to examine research objectives of VR tour impacts on: 1) awareness of hemp and kratom research at a land-grant university, 2) perceptions of hemp / kratom, and 3) content knowledge gain. The presentation will include an overview of this project, showing the tour, a description of how it was made with a lesson plan, survey results, and recommendations for future perception research and VR tour usage.